WASHINGTON – If Democrats in Congress have any chance at reining in how Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates under President Donald Trump, it’s right now.
Lawmakers in both parties and both chambers are set to work over the weekend to try to reach a deal for funding the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE. Like other federal agencies, DHS is set to run out of funding by Jan. 30, and lawmakers are racing to pass bills to ensure all agencies get new funding by that deadline.
But last week’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent has complicated the path ahead for DHS. The incident has fueled widespread anger and protests in the city, and is driving the agency to new levels of unpopularity. Democrats are seizing on the moment to demand reforms to ICE as a condition for their support on any new DHS funding.
“Right now, there’s no bipartisan path forward for the Department of Homeland Security,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday.
Republicans control the House and the Senate, but Democrats have a little leverage in the former and real leverage in the latter. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can afford to lose only one or two GOP votes on any bill, assuming full attendance, so Democrats can make things difficult by literally all showing up to votes. In the Senate, Republicans need at least seven Democrats to vote with them to advance a DHS funding bill in order to clear a filibuster.
